Pe! Tipe gM 
- authors (DEtTTo?7 for 
1905] CURRENT LITERATURE 233 
that fluctuations in temperature induce such variations in water content. The 
author regards the movement as without ecological significance. The practical 
absence of other literature on this subject gives the paper a quality of uniqueness, 
and although negative results appear to equal the positive in number, the high 
ideals of the accurate and unprejudiced worker are everywhere suggested.— 
Raymonp H. Ponp 
Ganonc has published in an earlier paper hiss views concerning some of the 
underlying principles of ecology, and to these he has added others?° dealing espe- 
cially with adaptation. After criticising the idea that ecology is synonymous 
with ecological geography, and deploring the lack of any significant advance in 
ecological methods in recent years, he plunges into a discussion of the philosophy 
of adaptation. Five principles are laid down; the first, as to the reality of adapta- 
tion, and the last, as to the inevitable imperfection of all adaptation, must meet 
with general acceptance. The second principle, dealing with the evolutionary 
phylogeny of adaptation, is taken up from a Lamarckian standpoint. GANONG 
thinks that the concomitance of diverse adaptations in a single species is to be 
accounted for best along Lamarckian lines. While this is doubtless true, there 
are as many objections wan 05 OD we as 2 oe suena hk poe 
of all. The third and fractile principles are concerned ith adaptation as a race 
Process rather than an individual process, and with the metamorphic nature of 
its origin—H. C. Cow es. 
TANSLEy’s?8 address before the British Association on The problems of ecology 
is very suggestive, and indicates the rapid progress which is being made along 
ecological lines in the British Isles. ANSLEY proposes to narrow the definition 
of ecology to include only its geographic aspects. For instance, he would include 
“the geographic distribution of pollination mechanisms, but would exclude the 
study of pollination mechanisms themselves. The reviewer can well imagine 
what a shock this will give to those who imagine that ecology includes nothing 
but the study of seed dispersal and pollination! TANSLEY uses as a synonym 
« sores | wperpnice Papaalngy, eur is practically identical with what the 
gy. It does not seem likely that TANSLEY’s 
view as to the limits of ecology will meet general approval, since the broader term 
has been so universally regarded as highly desirable and much needed. The 
distinctions between descriptive and experimental ecology are well brought out, 
and proper emphasis is laid upon the ultimate aim of ecology, the discovery of 
causes.—H. C. Cow es. 
a, 
*5 See Bor. Gaz. 36: 447-453. 1903. 
© GANONG, W. F., The cardinal principles of ecology. Science 19: 493-498. 1904. 
*7 See Bor. Gaz. 38: 385-386. 1904. 
28 TANSLEY, A. G., The problems of ecology. New Phytologist 3: 191-200. 1904. 
